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Money From Colleagues Buoys Rangel Campaign

WASHINGTON — For years, Charles B. Rangel was among the Democratic Party’s most generous colleagues, crisscrossing the country to raise vast sums of money for other House candidates at election time. Now, as Mr. Rangel faces one of the toughest races of his career, he is among the party’s neediest.

With campaign contributions to Mr. Rangel, the Harlem congressman since 1971, dropping precipitously — he barely broke $60,000 over the last three months — his political fate has become a source of concern for colleagues in Washington who are suddenly opening their wallets for him.

More than a dozen Democrats who never donated to Mr. Rangel before, from party leaders to backbenchers, have made out checks to the 81-year-old lawmaker this year, according to the most recent campaign finance disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

In some cases, Mr. Rangel’s camp has made direct requests for help to colleagues, said a senior Democrat, who asked not to be identified, saying he believed it to be a private matter.

But in other instances, lawmakers have given on their own after learning, through news accounts or from fellow lawmakers, about the tough re-election fight Mr. Rangel faces in his Upper Manhattan district.

“The fact that nobody contributed to Charlie before reflects the fact that nobody ever felt he needed it,” said Representative Gary L. Ackerman, a New York Democrat who made his first donation to Mr. Rangel last month, for $1,000. “People are reading that Charlie is facing a tough political challenge and they want to be there for him as he was there for them.”

Photo

In a reshaped district with a Latino majority, Representative Charles B. Rangel faces stiff competition in the primary.Credit
Alex Wong/Getty Images

The situation is no doubt difficult for Mr. Rangel, a proud and sensitive man, and a stark reminder of how far he has tumbled politically since he was censured on the floor of the House two years ago.

But it is also a measure of his unique personal standing on the Hill — he is known simply as Charlie among lawmakers, staffers, lobbyists and reporters — that he has not been completely cast aside in a city where scandal often leads to shunning.

In 2010, Mr. Rangel was censured after the House ethics committee found him guilty of 11 counts of ethical violations, including failure to pay taxes, improper solicitation of donations and failure to accurately report his personal income. More recently, he and his campaign agreed to pay $23,000 in penalties for improperly using a rent-stabilized apartment as a campaign office.

Mr. Rangel, who said he was humbled by the support his colleagues have given him, is facing a robust challenge from within his own party, with three candidates challenging him for the Democratic nomination.

The one who may pose the greatest threat is Adriano Espaillat, a Dominican-born state senator who has strong support from the district’s large Hispanic population. The other two are African-American candidates: Clyde Williams, the former national political director of the Democratic National Committee, and Joyce Johnson, a former Democratic district leader.

As he has sought to rally voters to his side, Mr. Rangel has struggled to raise money. In the three-month period ending March 31, he raised $67,000, leaving him with about $226,306 in the bank. In the corresponding period in 2010, when donations to him had already begun to slow, Mr. Rangel raised $108,000 and had about $635,000 in reserve, according to the disclosure reports.

It is against that backdrop that contributions have begun coming in from House Democrats who still cherish Mr. Rangel as a friend and colleague.

Representative Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat who was elected in 2006 with Mr. Rangel’s support, was one of the members of the ethics committee who voted to find Mr. Rangel guilty of the violations for which he was censured. Yet Mr. Welch recently gave Mr. Rangel a $1,000 contribution, mindful of the help Mr. Rangel provided him during his first run for Congress.

In an interview, Mr. Welch spoke fondly of what he described as Mr. Rangel’s special place in Congress. He also noted that he was not the only first-time Congressional candidate Mr. Rangel helped during the 2006 elections, when Mr. Rangel raised over $2 million for Congressional Democrats nationwide and the party regained control of the House. “He was very instrumental in making our class a success in 2006,” Mr. Welch said. Given that, he did not hesitate to lend Mr. Rangel a hand.

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“Charlie never asked me directly,” Mr. Welch said. “I don’t remember if I heard from another colleague that Charlie needed help. But I was not going to make Charlie come to me.”

Party leaders who have stepped in for the first time on Mr. Rangel’s behalf include Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the House minority whip ($5,000), and Charlie Gonzalez of Texas, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus ($1,000).

In an interview, Mr. Gonzalez said that as the head of the Hispanic caucus, he found it difficult to take sides in the race, given that Mr. Rangel’s main rival is the Dominican-born Mr. Espaillat. (Mr. Rangel’s mother was black and his father Puerto Rican.) But Mr. Gonzalez said that Mr. Rangel had been a leading voice in Congress for minorities, including Hispanics, over the years.

More than that, Mr. Gonzalez said, he has deep affection for Mr. Rangel, who showed him the ropes when he first arrived in Congress in 1999. He said that others on the Hill felt the same way, noting that lawmakers held a reception for Mr. Rangel when he returned to Congress recently after being hospitalized with back problems.

“There was just this sincere feeling of people being glad that he was back,” Mr. Gonzalez recalled. He said that in Congress, “You just don’t see that happen.”

Derek Willis contributed research.

A version of this article appears in print on May 29, 2012, on Page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Money From Colleagues Buoys Rangel Campaign. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe